The OC Register has an interesting article today in their Watchdog section regarding Santa Ana mayor Miguel Pulido, who also serves as a board member for that fallow field known as the Great Park (the site of the former El Toro Marine Base). Apparently board members are paid almost $1,000 bucks a month to show up at a monthly board meeting. Pulido hardly ever shows up.
http://taxdollars.ocregister.com/2011/07/28/does-miguel-pulidos-attendance-record-matter/90439/
Well why should he show up? To begin with there is no Great Park. The only thing they have is a bunch of road signs directing you in circles to The Great Park. Keep following the signs and you wind up back where you started. All there is is a big orange gas balloon, a weed-covered runway, and a bunch of gopher holes. That, ladies and gentlemen is The Great Park.
Then there is this from local pol Beth Krom:
“A number of the times, Miguel has been absent for what I would deem more than legitimate reasons,” Krom said. “If somebody never came or missed six meetings in a row, I’d have a problem with that, but Miguel has made this a priority.”
Krom also backed Pulido’s contention that he is working behind the scenes. “I think he carries the Great Park around with him wherever he goes and is a very great emissary,” she said.
If what he brings to the table “requires him to be a little more flexible than most,” that’s acceptable, she added."
What Beth means is that Miguel carries that big orange balloon around with him wherever he goes.
"We all live in an orange submarine, an orange submarine, an orange submarine."
Below: Beth Krom and Larry (Boss) Agram
* Artwork by Fousesquawk. All rights reserved. Write for a free catalogue.
Damn!!! How do I get a $1000.00 a month job and do nothing for it. OK, I realize that I may have to carry an "Oange Ballon" around, but that may be worth the $1000.00.
ReplyDeleteSquid
Sounds like somebody needs to propose a plan to develop the empty airbase into a great park, and provide specific on how to finance it. If I were an Orange County voter and tax payer who liked to make use of well-maintained parks, I would suggest a 0.5% sales tax for five years, to be amended at the end of that period based on results. If the park were up and running some combination of user fees and a reduced 0.25% sales tax might work. Or, the county's entire park system could be financed by a continuation of the 0.5% sales tax, with all park maintenance permanently removed from the property tax levy.
ReplyDeleteBut then, what would Gary do to lampoon whoever is responsible for running Orange County?
Call Larry Agram for a job. I hear he's "The man to see" in Irvine.
ReplyDeleteFrankly, I don't know why someone hasn't investigated this boondoggle.
Perhaps the board needs to put his face on milk cartons. Then maybe he will show up, or at least the cops will be looking for him.
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